LPL Search

With LPL since: 1979

Current Projects:
Spacewatch
Measurement of slow changes of Stellar Doppler shift by high resolution spectroscopy.
Both projects are ground based optical projects at Kitt Peak

Current LPL PhD students:

Current LPL postdocs:

Selected Memberships/Committee Positions:
Member: AAS, IAU, SPIE

Spacecraft Involvement:
Pioneer 11/Saturn (September 1979)--Including encounter, data acquisition, and image data reduction
WISE (Wide-area Infrared Survey Explorer) mission (2000-2011): Co-Investigator and leader of Solar System Working Group on the Science Team.

Recent references:

Spacewatch Survey of the Solar System, 1993-2006:

• Rabinowitz, D.L., Gehrels, T., Scotti, J.V., McMillan, R.S., Perry, M.L., Wisniewski, W., Larson, S.M., Howell, E.S., and Mueller, B.E.A. 1993. " Evidence for a Near-Earth Asteroid Belt." Nature 363, 704-706.

• Gehrels, T., Rabinowitz, D.L., McMillan, R.S., Perry, M.L., and Scotti, J.V. 1993. Spacewatch Results. Bull. A. A. S.. 25, 1125.

• Gehrels, T., Jedicke, R., McMillan, R.S., Perry, M.L., Scotti, J.V., and Bressi, T. 1995. " CCD Scanning for the Discovery of Comets and Asteroids." In Proc. Of the Planetary Defense Workshop, Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory CONF-9505266, pp. 125-127.

• Gehrels, T., Herron, J. D., Jedicke, R., McMillan, R. S., Metcalfe, T. S., Montani, J. L., Nichol, J., & Scotti, J. V. 1996. " Spacewatch Survey for Trans-Neptunian Objects." Bull. A. A. S. 28, 1081.

• Perry, M. L., McMillan, R. S., Barr, L. D., Bressi, T. H., & Gehrels, T. 1996. " The Spacewatch 1.8-meter Telescope." Bull. A. A. S., 28, 1096.

• McMillan, R. S. 1997. "Charge-coupled Devices." In The Encyclopedia of Planetary Science, J. H. Shirley & R. W. Fairbridge, Eds. London: Chapman and Hall, 98-102.

• Wisniewski, W. Z., Michalowski, T. M., Harris, A. W., and McMillan, R. S. 1997. " Photometric Observations of 125 Asteroids." Icarus 126, 395-449.

• McMillan, R. S., T. H. Bressi, T. Gehrels, R. Jedicke, J. A. Larsen, J. L. Montani, M. L. Perry, M. T. Read, J. V. Scotti, A.F. Tubbiolo. 1998. "Spacewatch: Findings and Progress." Abstract for First LPL Conference, 1998 May 18-19.

• McMillan, R. S. 1998. "Applicability of the Spacewatch Telescopes to the Exploration of the Outer Solar System." Abstract in Exploring the Kuiper Belt: Where do We Go from Here? (Workshop at Lowell Observatory), Sept. 2-5, 1998.

• McMillan, R. S., T. H. Bressi, A. S. Descour, T. Gehrels, J. A. Larsen, J. L. Montani, M. L. Perry, M. T. Read, and A. F. Tubbiolo 1998. " Progress Report on the 1.8-meter Spacewatch Telescope." Abstract in B. A. A. S. 30, 1114.

• McMillan, R. S. 1998. "Exploration of Asteroid and Comet Populations. " SSI Update - The High Frontier Newsletter, (Princeton, NJ: Space Studies Institute), 23, issue 5, 2: 5-6.

• Perry, M. L., T. H. Bressi, R. S. McMillan, A. F. Tubbiolo, and L. D. Barr 1998. "The 1.8m Spacewatch Telescope Motion Control System." Proc. SPIE 3351, Telescope Control Systems III, 450-465.

• McMillan, R. S. 1999. "Spacewatch Discovery and Study of Accessible Asteroids." Abstract of paper presented at the Space Resources Utilization Roundtable at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO: LPI Contrib. No. 988 and http://www.mines.edu/research/srr.

• McMillan, R. S. 1999. "The Spacewatch Search for Material Resources Near Earth." Space Manufacturing 12: Challenges and Opportunities in Space: Proceedings of the Fourteenth Space Studies Institute's Princeton Conference on Space Manufacturing, May 6-9, 1999, B. Greber, Ed. (SSI Publishing, Princeton, NJ), 72-75.

• McMillan, R. S. 1999. "Why Was the Earth-Approaching Asteroid 1998 OX4 Lost, and Was It a Big Deal To Lose It?" CCNet Digest http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cccmenu.html," June 14.

• Supernova Cosmology Project, R. S. McMillan, T. Gehrels, J. A. Larsen, J. L. Montani, J. V. Scotti, N. Danzl and A. Gleason. 1999. "Discovery and Confirmation of Supernovae 1999be and 1999bf." IAUC 7134.

• Larsen, J., R. S. McMillan, J. V. Scotti, M. Hicks, R. Fevig, and G. V. Williams. 2000. "Discovery and Confirmation of Asteroid (719) Albert = 2000 JW₈." In IAUC 7420.

• McMillan, R. S., J. A. Larsen. 2000. " Discovery of Trans-Neptunian Object 2000 WR₁₀₆." Minor Planet Electronic Circ. 2000-X02.

• McMillan, R. S., M. L. Perry, T. H. Bressi, J. L. Montani, A. F. Tubbiolo, and M. T. Read. 2000. "Progress on the Spacewatch 1.8-m Telescope and Upgrade of the Spacewatch 0.9-m Telescope." Abstract in B.A.A.S.. 32,1042.

• Larsen, J., A. E. Gleason, N. M. Danzl, A. S. Descour, R. S. McMillan, T. Gehrels, R. Jedicke, J. L. Montani, J. V. Scotti. 2001. "The Spacewatch Wide Area Survey for Bright Centaurs and Transneptunian Objects." The Astron. J., 121, 562-579.

• McMillan, R. S., T. H. Bressi, A. S. Descour, T. Gehrels, A. E. Gleason, R. Jedicke, J. L. Montani, M. L. Perry, M. Read, J. V. Scotti, A. F. Tubbiolo. 2002. "A Progress Report on Spacewatch." International Workshop on Collaboration and Coordination Among NEO Observers and Orbital Computers (held at the Kurashiki City Art Museum, Japan from October 23 to 26, 2001). S. Isobe and Y. Asakura, Eds. (Published by Japan Spaceguard Association). 7-10.

• Stokes, G. H., D. K. Yeomans, W. F. Bottke Jr., S. R. Chesley, J. B. Evans, R. E. Gold, A. W. Harris, D. Jewitt, T. S. Kelso, RSM, T. B. Spahr, and S. P. Worden. 2003. Study to Determine the Feasibility of Extending the Search for Near-Earth Objects to Smaller Limiting Diameters. Report of the Near-Earth Object Science Definition Team, http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/neoreport030825.pdf .

• Larsen, J. A., and the Spacewatch Team. 2005. "The size distribution of small near-Earth asteroids from the Spacewatch Survey". BAAS 37, No. 4, abstract 4.09.

• McMillan, R. S. 2005. Review of book entitled, Mitigation of Hazardous Asteroids and Comets, in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 40, 509.

• Roe, E. A, J. A. Larsen, and the Spacewatch Team. 2005. "Search for the tenth planet: Testing inferences from the 'Kuiper cliff' ". BAAS 37, No. 4, abstract 4.07.

• McMillan, R. S., M. Block, A. S. Descour. 2005. "The Spacewatch Volunteer Search For Fast Moving Objects". The ALPO Minor Planet Bulletin, Volume 32, Number 3: p53: http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/mpb/MPB%2032-3.pdf .

• McMillan, R. S., and the Spacewatch Team. 2006. "Spacewatch Preparations for the Era of Deep All-sky Surveys". In Proceedings of IAU Symposium 236, Near-Earth Objects, in press.

• Also as of 2006 December: 234 other Minor Planet Electronic Circulars with discoveries and followup observations of minor planets and comets, and 5 other IAU Circulars.

Other Recent Publications:

• Johnston, K. J., Dorland, B., Gaume, R., Hennessy, G., Olling, R., Zacharias, N., Behr, B., Efroimsky, M., Hajian, A., Harris, H., Hilton, J., Kaplan, G., Monet, D., Munn, J., Pier, J., Vrba, F., Seidelmann, K., Seager, S., Pravdo, S., Coste, K., Danner, R., Grillmair, C., Stauffer, J., Boss, A., Currie, D., Danchi, W., Gould, A., Kopeikin, S., Majewski, S., Makarov, V., McMillan, R., Peterson, D. M., Shaya, E., Unwin, S. 2006. The Origins Billions Star Survey: Galactic Explorer. PASP 118, 1428-1442.

• Hajian, A. R., Behr, B. B., Cenko, A. T., Olling, R. P., Mozurkewich, D., Armstrong, J. T., Pohl, B., Petrossian, S., Knuth, K. H., Hindsley, R. B., Murison, M., Efroimsky, M., Dantowitz, R., Kozubal, M., Currie, D. G., Nordgren, T. E., Tycner, C., and McMillan, R. S. 2007. Initial Results from the USNO Dispersed Fourier Transform Spectrometer. ApJ in press, MS#70872.

Search for Extrasolar Planets, 1993-1998:

• McMillan, R. S., T. L. Moore, M. L. Perry, and P. H. Smith. 1993. Radial Velocity Observations of the Sun at Night. ApJ 403, 801-809.

• McMillan, R. S., T. L. Moore, M. L. Perry, & P. H. Smith. 1994. Long, Accurate Time Series Measurements of Radial Velocities of Solar-Type Stars. In Planetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection. Eds. B. F. Burke, J. H. Rahe, and E. E. Roettger. Astrophys. & Space Sci. 212, 271-280.

• McMillan, R. S., Moore, T. L., Perry, M. L., & Smith, P. H. 1996. Correlation of the Radial Velocity of Epsilon Eridani with its Magnetic Cycle. Bull. A. A. S. 28, 1111.

• Gatewood, G. D., Snyder Hale, A., Hale, D. D. S., Persinger, W. T., McMillan, R. S., Montani, J. L., Moore, T. L., Perry, M. L. 1997. " The Multichannel Astrometric Photometer with Spectrograph: A New Instrument for the Characterization of Extrasolar Planetary Systems. " In Planets Beyond the Solar System and the Next Generation of Space Missions, ed. D. Soderblom, (San Francisco: A. S. P.), 119, 41-52.

• McMillan, R. S. 1997. Extrasolar Planets. In The Encyclopedia of Planetary Science, J. H. Shirley & R. W. Fairbridge, Eds. (London: Chapman and Hall), 588-590.

• McMillan, R. S. 1998. " The Value of Fabry-Perot Interferometry in Studying Long-Term Convective Line Shifts." In IAU Colloquium 170: Precise Stellar Radial Velocities, Astron. Soc. Pac. Conf. Ser. 185, 278-285.

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